Medical Professions

Recruitment demand in Australia’s social care industry continues to be buoyed by the shortage of degree-qualified and experienced Case Managers, Support Workers and Psychologists.

However, newly-qualified Social Workers and Psychologists are finding it increasingly difficult to get a first foot on the career ladder.

Services in the not-forprofit sector are looking for more experienced staff with commercial flair to help them operate in environments increasingly focused on outcomes and deliverables due to more competitive funding renewal requirements.

Disability, child protection, children and families, courts and corrections as well as asylum seeker/refugee organisations are constantly on the lookout for qualified and experienced workers both on a temporary and permanent basis.

Demand in the aged care sector continues to be sustained by the shortage of experienced Personal Care Assistants and Senior Managers. Aged care providers are vying for business-minded Nurse Managers capable of maximising the Aged Care Funding Instrument and who also have strong people management and leadership skills.

Experienced Nurses are the most sought after in aged care, and consequently some larger providers are hiring Facilities Managers from hospitality or soft services to fill the gaps.

Clinical Care Coordinators and Managers continue to be in high demand as employers balance the pressures of promoting Registered Nurses (RN) into these roles with the desire of employees to move up into Director of Nursing/Facilities Manager roles.

Lacklustre salary growth for these roles is further compounding the shortage of suitable candidates.

At the RN level there is a shortage of people looking to move into aged care to fill the rising number of vacancies.
Graduating nurses prefer to work in an acute care environment both for the experience and better salaries on offer.

Nursing Shortfall

New South Wales is on the cusp of a nursing crisis, with south-west Sydney set to face a "catastrophic" shortage of staff, according to official data.

Alarming figures predict that the state's pool of about 70,000 full-time staff will soon be unable to meet patient demand.

And over the next decade, the shortfall will only intensify.

By 2030, the modelling suggests while 82,000 full-time registered nurses and midwives will be needed, only 74,000 will be available — a gap of 8,000 workers.

For hospitals and aged-care centres who rely on enrolled nurses — the less-qualified workers who provide vital one-on-one care — the situation looks particularly dire, according to documents released through a long-running Freedom of Information (FOI) application.

This year alone, NSW will need to find 2,000 full-time enrolled nurses to meet demand, and on current trends, the shortage will continue to grow.

The current workforce of 9,000 full-time staff will plummet to 7,500 by 2030, while at the same time demand will sky-rocket to about 13,000.

The risk of a shortfall of enrolled nurses for Sydney, rural NSW, the Mid-North Coast and the entire Metro NSW public sector is charted as a major risk, only one step down from catastrophic.

** Health Workforce Australia data shows the shortfall of nurses across the whole of Australia is ­expected to hit 85,000 by 2025 and 123,000 by 2030.

Regional Australia

Regional Australia still faces a unique set of challenges in attracting suitable candidates to remote areas. In particular, attracting quality candidates to specialist roles such as midwifery in remote locations remains difficult.

While allowances and free or subsidised accommodation are typical perks, employers are not increasing salaries.

National Disability Insurance Scheme

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) roll out continues to pick up pace creating new roles but also redundancies as the provision of services moves increasingly from the public to the private sector in some states.

In South Australia the opposite is true with the state government announcing the creation of more than 6,000 jobs. The NDIS involves a
move to the provision of person-centred care models and extra fee-paying services.

We expect to see increased levels of recruitment activity over the year ahead, particularly from small to medium-sized organisations that are  restructuring and looking to fill management roles. These employers are typically looking for candidates with experience driving feepaying
services in private or not-for-profit healthcare with proven organisational change management skills.

SALARY GUIDE

Nursing Professionals

• Above salaries exclude superannuation, bonuses, on-call, or penalty rates

Medical Imaging Specialists

• Above salaries exclude superannuation, bonuses, on-call, or penalty rates

Social Care & Psychology

Above salaries exclude superannuation, bonuses, on-call, or penalty rates
• Salaries might vary for regional/remote roles
• There are bandings for NFP under SCHADS and grades in Government/Health
• Salary packaging available for most NFP roles

Allied Health Professionals

• Above salaries exclude superannuation, bonuses, on-call, or penalty rates

If you work in a medical profession and are interested in emigrating to Australia, have a look at https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/work/work/Skills-assessment-and-assessing-authorities/skilled-occupations-lists/combined-stsol-mltssl  which is the current list of eligible skilled occupations which will  assist you to determine which visa program may be available to you depending on your occupation.

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